Posts filed under 'Sponsors'
You know when you watch a movie and there’s the bit in the middle where the character has to undergo some kind of transformation? Maybe they have to get in shape for a marathon or start up a business or work a million hours to make money to win the heart of the girl. You know what I mean. It’s during this part of the film that the character’s actions are set to a piece of manic music and they go from barely being able to crunch a sit up to being able to run 26 miles with ease.
It’s uplifting and motivational to watch. Sure, they show the tough bits of them getting sweaty and deflated, but within the space of a 3 minute soundtrack, their lives are transformed and it all looks ludicrously easy.
Right about now I’m living that bit. Apparently real life isn’t set to some toe tapping music and it takes quite a lot longer than three minutes for everything to magically transform.
In fact my movie would show quite a lot more sweating and rushing around. Amazingly a few weeks of exercise hasn’t seen me transform from Mr Blobby to a toned goddess and putting a few calls in hasn’t seen me instantly raise all the money I need.
Far from it. Despite writing to many companies, I’ve not managed to secure any main sponsors. Understandable I guess given the current economic climate - but that doesn’t happen in the movies does it? So I’ve spent quite a bit of time pulling together my fund raising events, specifically trying to secure prizes for an auction I’ll be holding at my ladies tea party. Thanks to the generosity of some lovely companies, I’m making some headway.
Sweaty Betty - what a fab company! Their sports gear is gorgeous but they also live their brand and are incredibly supportive of women. So a huge thanks to them for donating some gift vouchers.
Boden - again, kindly donating some gift vouchers so that the mummies coming to my tea party can update their summer wardrobe.
Aunty Ollie - one of my clients for donating vouchers for their brand new beautiful children’s wear range, which we’re about to launch.
Stardust Kids - for kindly donating an item my son will lust after and covet and insist I buy for him: A kid’s electric guitar. All the coolest kids have them
Darling & Darling - another client for donating one of their lovely keepsake photo albums.
Hannah Baker - a local mum who provides beauty treatments has offered some pampering treatments, which I would dearly love myself
Babylicious - for donating a month’s supply of their delicious frozen baby or toddler meals, something all busy mums need a supply of.
Cuddledry - for donating one of their ingenious baby or toddler towels. If you haven’t seen them before, go take a look at their range. I LOVE the bug one.
Fink Cards has very kindly agreed to give everyone who comes to the Tea Party fundraiser a free gift worth £5. I’ll keep it a secret as to what it is.
And lastly but most excitingly of all, the absolutely brilliant Tots to Travel has donated a family holiday!! If you haven’t booked a holiday yet for this year, I highly recommend that you visit their website. Their properties cater for families with young children and will have you drooling over your keyboard.
Besides organising that little lot, I spent my weekend driving around the countryside sticking posters up for my nearly new sale and my pile of stuff to be sold is sitting patiently in the spare bedroom waiting to be labelled up.
I also got to go shopping on Saturday. Not for the latest fashions you understand. No, my shopping list included a sleeping bag, sensible knickers, a sailing knife, seasick tablets, wet wipes and other glamour items. That’s because this Sunday I start my first traing session out at sea and I feel woefully underprepared.
I’ve had a cold for the last week so have done no fitness training, and I’ve misplaced my training manual and haven’t been memorising the various procedures that we’ll be practising out at sea. I also haven’t even started to learn the knots I’m supposed to have mastered by the weekend. So finding the training manual is becoming a bit of a priority.
And finally, I’ve found a nanny! Hooray. Thanks to the help of Newbury Nannies who have kindly agree to reduce their placement fee by 25%, we’ve found a nanny who can become mummy for the times that I’m away. She is a 60 year old lady who makes 20 year olds look positively sluggish given her amount of energy. She comes in and just becomes mum. Which is brilliant.
So slowly and surely I’m ticking things off my list. It’s not taking three minutes and none of it is set to jaunty music, but hopefully at the end of it all, it will still be a blockbuster.
P.S. If anyone knows of any other companies who’d be willing to donate a prize for my auction, please let me know. And I’m also in need of some sponsored champagne that I can sell at my tea party. All donations gratefully received.
Now, where’s my training manual….
Tags: aunty ollie, babylicious, boden, darling & darling, fink cards, movie, sailing, shopping, Sponsors, stardust kids, sweaty betty, tots to travel, Training
March 30th, 2009
I haven’t sailed off into the sunset just yet. I’m still here, just a leetle teeny bit frenetic so blogging has had to take a back seat (as has twittering, facebooking, exercising, housecleaning and cooking).
My fund-raising plans are now well underway, with two big events planned. Firstly, I’ll be holding a Nearly New Sale on 9 May. This isn’t just a good way for me to raise money, it also means that I can at last get rid of all the piles of baby stuff loitering in corners of the house but which I can’t bear to just put in the recyling bin. Thanks to the kind help of some of the pre-school mummies - especially Caroline - it’s starting to come together although I still need more sellers not to mention plenty of buyers!
Secondly, I’ll be holding a girly tea party in a marquee in our garden on 13 June. Many of my lovely clients and people I’ve worked with have agreed to donate some prizes for a raffle or auction including Fink Cards, Babylicious, Darling & Darling and Cuddledry. There will be tea, cake, champagne, bunting and general girly loveliness. Just a shame I’ll be too busy rushing around like an insaniac doing everything to actually sit down and nibble on dainty sandwiches.
If anyone lives remotely close to Newbury, Berkshire and is interested in attending either of these events, please let me know! And if anyone else would like to donate a prize for the auction, shout! I shall swoon and kiss you and generally sing your praises. Plus, if that’s not enough, you’ll be able to put out flyers about your business for all the mummies to look at.
A big thanks also to Babycentre for being the first corporate to sponsor me. Please go visit the Babycentre site - particularly if you don’t know anything about babies. Type a random question you may have about children into the search tool and the site is almost guaranteed to have an answer. It’s a mine of useful information, particularly if you have children like mine who didn’t come with a guide book.
I’ve also made some headway on the press front - I’ll be on Mybabyradio.com this Thursday between 1 and 2 pm. And hopefully the local paper will run the piece they came to take a picture for several weeks ago. I’ve now added a press page to this blog to keep track of all the latest news.
Lastly, my training manual has arrived. OMG. I know how to sail and I’m daunted by the amount of info I need to bone up on before I head off for my first training course on 5 April. I think if they sent the training manual out before you signed up, no-one would do it. There are whole sections, for example, that deal with how to handle sea sickness and how to avoid the spread of germs on the boat and how not to set fire to the boat and how to send out a Mayday signal if you do indeed set fire to the boat.
My brain has barely any room left in it. I’m not sure how I’m going to squeeze this all in. Not to mention that I’ve just discovered that besides the first 3 weeks training I have to do, there’s a 4th week of pure theory. I thought that was at home study but apparently not. So somehow I need to fit that in too. Oh, and that involves meteorology and navigation. I assume from that, that it’s not as simple as just plugging in: ‘Rio’ to a satnav and setting sail.
I shall fill you in further as I delve deeper into the manual. And I know I still owe you the next installment in my sailing history: The teen years including bad hair pics. It’s coming. Eventually.
Tags: babycentre, babylicious, cuddledry, darling&darling, finkcards, fund-raising, mybabyradio, press, sailing
March 17th, 2009
I am really happy to unveil my new blog created to track my progress as I prepare to sail from the UK to Brazil as part of the Clipper Round The World Race. I hope that once I get my head around Wordpress it’ll have far more lovely features - like some video and plenty of pics as the countdown to the training and race begins.
Since signing the contract things have moved fast. I’ve been sent all sorts of exciting bits of mail. Let’s see, there was the doctor’s letter that had to get signed to prove that I’m fit and able to take part. I assume by that that they don’t require a lean set of six pack abs. I have a six pack alright, it’s just made of sponges that cascade over the top of my trousers in an attractive muffin like fashion.
There was also the letter requiring me to pay insurance so that if I lose a limb or die at sea I was covered. That was comforting. I readily signed that cheque.
Then there was lots of information about marketing and sponsorship - which is how come this blog is now live.
There was the strange email asking about what size wet weather gear we needed, without having seen the sizes they come in. And a list of the myriad of things we’d need for training, with the caveat that we shouldn’t rush out and buy things specifically as we may decide that smashing our way through freezing cold oceans and living inside very cramped quarters isn’t really our bag after all. Whether it’s my bag or not, I’m in it for the long haul now.
My favourite bit of correspondence was the newsletter just for girls. It went over some of the issues that the gentlemen taking part in the race might not be too concerned about (and indeed might turn green thinking about). It covers subjects like:
- knickers (choose cotton to avoid nappy rash and dark as opposed to white which get seriously grey apparently)
- periods and how to deal with them on board (you don’t even want to know really)
- women’s issues (like the fact that not showering for weeks on end might result in cystitis or thrush and what to do about that)
- what to wear for best breast support while hoisting sails but which is still comfortable to sleep in and lastly,
- how to clean yourself thoroughly with baby wipes (because you ain’t going to be having a shower anytime soon).
It really doesn’t matter. The more I know about it, the more I want to do it. My first training session is booked for 5 - 12 April. I have to start honing my spongebob six pack belly before then, so am meeting a lovely personal trainer tomorrow (thanks EJ) who has agreed to give me some of her time for free to come up with some exercises to help me prepare.
And the marketing campaign will be kicking off in earnest soon. In the meantime, anyone who fancies sponsoring me can have a go. Be the first! Tell me the link works.
A special mention here to Helen who has helped me create this blog and is hosting it for me. And a big thank you to Tasha who created the mum in the washing basket logo for me.
I’m overwhelmed at the support I’ve already received from people about this. You’re all brilliant shiny stars!
Tags: blog, doctor, insurance, marketing, support, women's issues
February 17th, 2009
